Giving: Text donors mostly female, well-educated, survey finds

While texting donations to charities has taken off in recent years, it seems to be most popular among women donors.

A new survey of more than 20,000 text donors showed that 70 percent were female. That's the same as in 2012, according to the survey by the mGive Foundation, a Denver-based nonprofit that processes the majority of mobile giving in the United States.

The survey also found that mobile donors are a well-educated group: 75 percent said they had an undergraduate or graduate degree.

Among the most unusual findings: Three-quarters of donors held their current cellphone numbers for more than five years. (Nonprofits, guard those cellphone lists!)

The 2013 mGive Text Donations study showed that donors choose mobile giving far more often for natural disasters such as superstorm Sandy or the earthquake in Haiti than for other causes. But they are adding other charities to their lists.

"The trend is that text donations in organizations are growing, but the power of disasters is pretty consistent," said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of the mGive Foundation.

Snyder said the foundation is trying to encourage more nonprofits to try mobile giving.

"When we first started talking to nonprofits about mobile giving, it was like talking about science fiction," said Snyder. "But for a group of donors, texting is their preferred giving channel."

In fact, 85 percent of respondents rated their experience with mobile giving as excellent or good.

Even if folks text a donation, it doesn't mean they won't donate more online or in another format, the survey showed. Nearly 85 percent said that making a small text donation wouldn't make them less inclined to give a larger donation later.

The survey also found that about 23 percent of baby boomers and 28 percent of Gen Xers — those ages 37 to 47 — texted donations last year. Thirty-four percent of 19- to 37-year-olds used mobile giving.

To see the survey, go to https://mgive.com.

Jean Hopfensperger • 612-673-4511